Robert Sugden's half sister, Sandie Merrick left Emmerdale to live in Scotland with her dad when Robert was just three years old. He never had any contact with her growing up. In fact, he'd forgotten that she ever even existed. It's possible he doesn't even know she ever existed; he was so young when she left. So, understandably, Robert is beyond shocked when his 16 year-old niece shows up in the village twenty-nine years later all by herself.